“It was narrated by al-Bazzār and Abū Yaʿlā, and Abū Yaʿlā’s chain of transmission is good!”

I say: His singling out Abū Yaʿlā for mention is an error, as is his declaring its chain of transmission good; for Abū Yaʿlā’s chain, like al-Bazzār’s, runs through ʿAlī ibn Zayd, who is weak.

Likewise, his singling out al-Ṭabarānī for mention rather than al-Bazzār was mistaken. Had he reversed this, he would have been correct, because al-Ṭabarānī narrated it through his shaykh, al-Faḍl ibn Abī Rūḥ al-Baṣrī, whom no one has declared trustworthy. Indeed, Shaykh Ḥammād al-Anṣārī—may Allah have mercy on him—did not know him, and so did not include him in his singular work, Bulghat al-Qāṣī wa-l-Dānī fī Tarājim Shuyūkh al-Ṭabarānī (A Guide for the Far and Near to the Biographies of al-Ṭabarānī’s Teachers). Al-Ṭabarānī narrated approximately five hadiths from him in his three Muʿjam collections, this being one of them. Yet I too have not found any biographical notice for him. Al-Bazzār, on the other hand—despite belonging to an earlier generation than him—narrated it from his shaykh, ʿAlī ibn al-Mundhir, who is trustworthy, as al-Dhahabī stated, and is listed among the narrators in al-Tahdhīb. Thus, it was al-Bazzār who should have been mentioned rather than al-Ṭabarānī, as is clear to the people of knowledge. *

The obligation to cleanse oneself after defecation

3316—“If one of you defecates, let him wipe himself three times.” In another version: “Let him cleanse himself with three stones.”

It has been reported from Jābir, al-Sāʾib ibn Khallād, and Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī:

A. As for the hadith of Jābir, there are two chains from him:

The first: Ibn Lahīʿah said: Abū al-Zubayr narrated to us from him that he said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace…” Then he mentioned it with the first wording.

Aḥmad narrated it (3/336).